


Secretly Superman

by callmeonetrack



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Superman (Christopher Reeve Movies)
Genre: AU, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 13:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9274445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeonetrack/pseuds/callmeonetrack
Summary: The new cub reporter atThe Galacticahas a big secret.





	

“Say, Karl,” Kara T. Lane called to her deskmate, kicking her feet up onto the shiny surface and chomping the end off a cigar. “You get a load of that new guy yet?”

The lanky, friendly staff photographer whistled. “Yes, sir, Miss Lane. Er, I mean, m’am.”

Kara frowned, as she pulled out a cheap plastic lighter out of her jacket pocket. “How many times I gotta tell ya? Just call me Kara.”

Karl grinned sheepishly, fiddling with the strap of his camera. “Yes, s—Kara. Right,” he cleared his throat. “Anyway, that Kent fellow’s _pret-ty_ green.” He grinned proudly.

Cub reporter Lee Adama Kent had joined the staff of The Galactica just three weeks ago—one week and two days after Karl himself had come on board. Kara rolled her eyes. She’d been pounding the pavements for the newswire for two years now. If there was news in Caprica City, you could bet your bottom dollar that Kara T. Lane was on the case. She’d won two Golden Vipers for her ability to strike—stealthy and sharp just like a snake—while the iron was hot…or while the bodies weren’t yet cold, anyway. Crime was a capital problem in the capitol city, all thanks to the unctuous, power-mad Dr. Gaius Luthor. She still couldn’t believe they’d elected that buffoon vice-president.

Of course, she didn’t exactly have _proof_ that Gaius was the root of all evil. But Kara just knew, deep in her bones, that Luthor was bad news, and her instincts had never failed her yet. She was determined to stay on him until she found out the dirt. Hell, maybe she’d win a third Viper for it.

That was, _if_ that bumbling dipstick Kent didn’t get in her way again. He always seemed to be underfoot somehow, whenever Kara turned around. Falling all over himself usually too.

She sighed and tried to ignite her cigar, but the darned flame wouldn’t catch. She shook the cheap thing, cursing, but suddenly a hand was there, holding up one of those fancy metal flip-top jobs to the end of her cigar. Kara tossed the lighter and gripped the cigar to inhale, her eyes traveling up to meet a pair of familiar steel blue ones. ‘Course you could barely see ’em behind the Coca-Cola bottle glasses, which was a damn shame. Kent didn’t have a lot going for him, but the eyes….the eyes were nice.

Cigar lit, he flipped the lighter closed and Kara leaned back, looking up at him. “How’s tricks, Kent?”

Panic flashed behind the thick lenses, and he flushed. “I- I don’t….what do you mean? Tricks? I’m not playing a trick—”

“Frak, Kent! Relax! It’s just an expression.”

Karl looked at her quizzically, his expression mirroring Lee’s. “Frak?”

She sighed theatrically. “ _Frak_. Or as you would probably say, _Golly! Gee Whiz!_ ” She mocked, eyes wide and voice high, then shook her head. “Maybe you should just stick to taking funny pictures, Karl,” she turned her head and appraised Kent with a critical eye. “And you should…get me coffee or something.”

He slowly arched one eyebrow at her suggestion, and suddenly a quick flash of heat in her gut made Kara’s breath catch. It was wholly unexpected and completely ludicrous, and she forced herself to turn her back on him and face Karl, who was protesting. “Hey, my new shots ain’t funny. They’re gonna put Karl A. Olsen on the map, I’m telling ya. Superman is rea—”

“Oh, not again with the Superman crap, Karl. You really expect me to buy there’s some stud in tights and a cape zipping around the planet faster than a speeding bullet?”

She shook her head, grinning at the ridiculous notion, and turned slightly, only to find a hand in front of her once again… this time holding out a steaming cup of coffee. She looked up again into those startling eyes, but this time she felt confusion rather than heat. How the hell did he get all the way down to the machine in the basement and back up here that quick? The task should have gotten him out of her hair for at least ten minutes, fifteen if there was a line. She took the coffee, still puzzling it out and took a sip.

“Three sugars, black. Just the way you like it, right, Lane?”

There was something different about the way he said it, the words pitched lower than his usual wavering, reedy tone. Hell, it almost sounded like he was implying something else entirely with that question.

The heat flared again in her gut.

Frak.

She took another swallow so she wouldn’t have to answer, eyes closed as she gulped quickly, scorching her tongue on the hot liquid. (Curious. Usually, the coffee was lukewarm at best by the time someone got it up from the ninth circle of hell, as the staff dubbed the Galactica lunchroom. No matter what you ordered there, the food invariably tasted like it was made from pond scum or something.)

“Not bad, Kent,” she said grudgingly, when she’d gotten herself together. “Guess you’re learning something around here after all. In fact—“

“LANE! OLSEN! KENT! REPORT NOW!”

The booming baritone voice of their boss, Bill A. White, cracked through the newsroom and all three of them headed for his door, practically running. White ran a tight ship. When he called, you came. Immediately.

They jostled through the door, lining up in front of his desk and standing tall. White swiveled in his chair behind the big desk, eying them all grimly. “There’s been another incident.”

“Frak.”

Kara and Lee’s heads both swiveled at Karl’s hushed exclamation. The word sounded strange coming from the big galoot’s mouth. Maybe he had a point.

“What da ya hear, Boss?” Kara asked.

“Rain, Lane. Lots of it.” He grimaced. “I don’t know how they’re doing it, but someone’s tampering with the weather systems on Kobol. It’s been raining for forty days and forty nights down there. Buildings are washing away! If this continues, the human race is in danger of extinction!”

Years of experience had left Kara unfazed by the Old Man’s propensity for dramatics. But next to her, Lee was fidgeting like someone poured ants down his damn pants. She glared at him and hissed, “Cool your jets, Kent.”

He stiffened a little but there was impatience in his voice when he asked, “Forty days and forty nights, sir? And on Kobol, the supposed birthplace of the Gods? You think this could be some kind of religious thing?”

“Hell if I know. Maybe this guy thinks he’s The Second Coming,” he sneered. Bill A. White had little use for or faith in religion. “All I know is whoever is behind this has some very high clearance to be able to breach security at the National Meteorological Society. Fouling with their servers is the only way someone could pull off a feat of this magnitude.”

Excitement made Kara’s pulse race. This was it! It had to be Gaius Luthor behind this! Before he’d been elected V-P, the man had been one of the planet’s top scientists. He had the scientific know-how and the clearance to waltz right in and set this diabolical plan in motion.

“I think I’ve got a pretty good hunch on who our culprit is, Boss,” Kara said.

Bill nodded, already on her wavelength. “I thought you might. Luthor is off the grid right now, reportedly on a diplomacy tour. I think it’s an awfully convenient cover and I want you to find him. Take Olsen here and get proof. Uncontestable, living color proof this time! I want that slippery little weasel safely locked away where he can no longer endanger truth, justice, and the American way. Got it, Thrace?”

She saluted, turning to go as Karl slipped out the door ahead of her.

“Oh and take Kent here, with you,” he snorted. “He could use the practice.”

The derision in White’s tone revealed his lack of faith in the cub reporter. Surprisingly, the usually shy Kent looked annoyed and he opened his mouth, like he was ready to read the Old Man the riot act. Kara reached out and grabbed his bicep—hard as stone under the starched white shirt—and tugged him away. “Got it, Boss. I’ll teach him the ropes.”

Bill nodded, already turning his attention back to the papers on his desk. “Good hunting.”

Kara hauled Kent around the corner. “What the hell were you thinking, rook? You want to find yourself out on the streets for talking back to the Old Man?”

Kent’s lips were set in a tight line, his jaw clenched. Kara watched a muscle jump under the taut skin with fascination. Here she’d been thinking Kent was a milquetoast, a lightweight, all fawning, no fire. But this was a new side of him. It was…interesting.

“He hasn’t even given me a chance,” he gritted out, bracing his hands on the metal railing that bordered the upper floor of the news room. “No one has.”

Sympathy stirred in Kara. She knew what it was like to be underestimated. Hell, her own mother hadn’t even thought she’d amount to a hill of beans. Still, self-pity hadn’t gotten her the spot as the best damned reporter in Caprica City. “Well, if you wait around for someone to hand you one, Kent, you’ll be waiting an awfully long time.” She smacked her hand against his chest—as unyielding as a brick wall, how much iron did this guy pump in his off hours, anyway?— and said, “You want a shot in this world, you gotta reach out and take it. Make them see what you want them to see. We go to Kobol and we nail that creep Luthor, and the Boss’ll be seeing you through new eyes, I bet.”

His face was skeptical. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“And what about…” he paused and looked at her, “…everyone else?”

She swallowed hard and shook off the weird feelings, yet again. “Sure.” She playfully slugged his shoulder, and the brick of muscle was so unyielding her fingers tingled. Kara shook that off too. “Stick with me, kid. You’ll be a whole new man.”

He mustered up a tight smile and let go of the railing finally, straightening up and using one finger to push his thick black glasses higher. “Then I guess I’d better start packing.” His tone was soft again, the expression on Lee’s face conciliatory, as if he might apologize for just breathing in some of the air in the room. He turned away, broad shoulders hunched and headed down the stairs, but Kara didn’t watch him go.

She was too busy looking at the metal railing, where ten deep finger indentations were clearly visible in the thick iron.

Kara wondered if she should call Kent back, maybe ask to borrow those glasses of his. Because if she was seeing what she thought she was, maybe her little pep talk hadn’t been necessary after all.

Lee Adama Kent’s inner strength might just be a force to be reckoned with.

****

Kara squelched up the muddy hill, smacking tree branches out of her way. They’d been chasing Luthor’s trail for three days now. Three miserable, fruitless, soaked-to-the-bone days. A chill rippled down her spine and Kara shivered. At this rate, it was hard to imagine ever being warm again.

“Are you okay, Kara?”

Kent was at her side suddenly, hovering like usual. It had been his bright idea to trudge out here to the woods and climb halfway up a mountain in search of some secret fortress. He’d joined them at breakfast, looking like he hadn’t slept in a few days, stammering about some mysterious tip he’d gotten last night that Luthor had a remote hideaway up here.

“This tip of yours better be legit, Kent,” Kara grumbled, as she ducked a wet branch whiplashing towards her head as Karl forged ahead of her.

“It is,” Lee assured her, slipping around her and pushing back some of the dense shrubbery bordering their path. The water had flattened his normally spiky hair, plastering it to his skull save for one wavy forelock that dipped over his eyes. Kara had to clench her fingers to stop herself from reaching out and pushing it back. Weirdly, the guy had insisted on keeping his glasses on, despite the pouring rain.

“How can you even see anything wearing those things?” she huffed, the cold rivulets running from her hair down under her collar making her cranky.

Kent just looked at her, slow and intense, and Kara forgot the frigid weather conditions as heat crackled through her. “I can see _everything_ ,” he answered, voice low. His gaze bore into Kara like lasers, then slid down, down her body before flicking back up to her face again, and she flushed, hand automatically straying to check the zipper on her beloved C-Bucs warm-up jacket. For a brief moment, Kara felt thoroughly exposed. In fact, it was enough to make her say a silent thank you that she’d decided to wear underwear today.

She took a steadying breath and turned away, pushing forward through the foliage. “Well, all I can see is mud, mud and more blasted mud,” she called over her shoulder. “And not a trace of this supposedly palatial fortress of Luthor’s.”

“I’m telling you, it’s here. I know it.”

“Based on the word of this mystery source of yours?” Kara’s tone dripped with scorn.

“Look, I – let’s just say, my source got a bird’s eye view of the compound.”

She shot him an incredulous look as they pushed through another dense wall of dripping greenery. “We’re in the damn mountains, Kent! So, what? Are you getting leads from the pigeons?”

He opened his mouth to respond, when suddenly Karl’s voice called back to them. “Hey guys, there it is! Where are you?”

A smug grin quirked Lee’s lips, but he just swept aside some of the heavier branches and locked eyes with Kara. “After you.”

Slightly chagrinned, but damned if she’d let it show, Kara strode forward, her chin high. She caught up with Karl, Lee on her heels, and the trio stared up at the ostentatious, glass-and-concrete mansion rising out of the hillside before them.

“First fortress I ever seen with glass walls,” Kara snorted. “He’s really keeping it on the hush hush with this joint.”

Karl snapped some quick photos, and lowered his camera. “Jeepers, I bet he has some great views of the lake from up there,” he mused, then flushed when Kara raised an eyebrow at him.

“Call your realtor later, Olsen. Right now, we need a plan.” She narrowed her eyes, surveying the mansion. “I wonder how much security he’s got up there with him.”

Lee stepped forward next to her and stared up at the fortress for a moment, then said, “Two men on the ground floor by the back entrance, and two on the second floor staking out a staircase that probably leads to that turret on the right.”

Kara stared at him, eyes wide, then looked back at the mansion, where water was pouring down the panes of glass obscuring them entirely. She looked back to Lee. “How the heck did you make all that out, Kent?”

He looked surprised for a second, almost as if he’d been caught with his hand in a cookie jar, then he tilted his head and shrugged, pointing to his glasses. “I can see everything, remember?” He smiled tightly. “Strong prescription.”

Strong? Heck, those glasses had to be _magic_ or something. For a second, the idea nudged at Kara. That would certainly explain why he hadn’t wanted to take them off. A second later, she shook her head at herself. Magic glasses? Right. She was getting distracted, she needed to focus. “Okay, four men, that sounds…manageable,” she said, with more conviction than she really had.

“Kara, you realize we’re journalists, not ninjas, here, right?” Kent offered. “We don’t have guns. It wouldn’t be safe for us to go in. We need to call the local police.”

“And tell them we suspect the VP is the one tampering with the weather? C’mon Kent, who do you think they’ll believe? They’ll just throw us in the slammer,” she insisted, smirking. “Wouldn’t be my first time in hack, of course, but not sure you and Karl here would find it so entertaining. You’re a little on the delicate side.”

He glared at her, frowning, while Karl blushed and studied his camera, but Kara was already going on.

“Besides, I’ve been tracking this sneaky good-for-nothing lowlife for nearly a year. His ass is mine.” She paused, ignoring the fact that maybe she hadn’t really thought through exactly how they were going to capture Luthor with no weapons. Something would come to her; something always did. “Besides, it’s not like we’re gonna find a telephone booth out here in the middle of nowhere or anything.”

A curious look passed over Lee’s face, and he was fidgeting now, Kara noticed. “You alright, Kent?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll…uh…” he shifted from foot to foot, hands in his pockets as he rocked onto the balls of his feet. “I’ll just work my way around the back, OK? See if there’s a clear way in.”

“Hey wait, I don’t think we should split—” but he was gone already, disappearing behind the shrubbery they’d fought their way through. Kara stared after him for a moment, wondering if cowardice had got the better of the rook. She felt curiously disappointed. Wouldn’t be the first time cold feet took down a cub reporter, but she’d gotten an inkling that there was stronger mettle under the surface with Lee Adama Kent.

Ah well. She didn’t need his help, anyway. Kara Thrace Lane was well accustomed to saving the day all on her own.

Or, well, mostly.

“Come on, Karl. Time’s a wastin’. Let’s go find the dastardly doctor and give him a little taste of some bad medicine.”

****

Things had started well.

Kara and Karl had managed to sneak into the fortress and make it all the way up to the top of the turret without deterrence. Mysteriously, the guards Kent had described seemed to be laying down on the job—quite literally. They’d been slumped in a pile at each checkpoint, laid out cold by some unknown assailant.

They’d checked the house, running from room to room and finding no trace of any other intruders or Luthor. No trace of Kent either, though Kara tried not to worry about that. Maybe the excitement of the mission had been too much for him and he’d headed back to the car. The car that was parked five miles back down the steep, rocky mountainside.

She tamped down thoughts of Lee caught in a mudslide, and focused on the mission at hand as she and Karl headed up the last flight of stairs to the only part of the house they hadn’t checked. Why Luthor would be on the roof was beyond Kara, but it’s not like he was playing with a full triad deck anyway.

They opened the door and stepped out onto the slippery rooftop. A loud whirring noise filled the air and Kara and Karl turned toward its source. An enormous metal box sporting various antennae and plenty of switches and dials was humming in the corner, an unnatural mechanic whine emitting from it. They raced toward the machine.

“This has to be it, Karl. This is the way Luthor’s been controlling the weather! He built this..this…thing.” A dot of red light scanned back and forth on the machine’s central panel, creeping Kara out. It reminded her of an eye, watching them. She swallowed hard and forced herself to check for a power switch while Karl snapped photos from different angles. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to helpfully label the rows of various buttons and dials. Hell, the damn thing didn’t even have a power cord she could yank. Finally, she just raised her hand, palm flat, ready to smash it down and strike as many buttons at once as possible. One of them had to shut the damned thing off.

But just as she was about to strike, a familiar, slimy voice called out. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Miss Lane.” Kara froze. “Not if you want your little shutterbug friend here to keep breathing, anyway.”

Kara let out a silent curse under her breath and turned slowly. Her heart sank when she saw that Luthor had a pistol to Karl’s head. Or…well, to Karl’s ear actually. And the vertically challenged VP was on tiptoes to reach that.

“Gaius Luthor,” Kara smirked. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Mmm, perhaps it is fate, Miss Lane. Or destiny, if you prefer.”

“I don’t prefer. My destiny has nothing to do with some power-mad scientist’s quest to rule the world one downpour at a time,” she shouted. “What exactly do you think you’re going to accomplish here, Luthor?”

If she could just keep him talking, maybe she could find a way to get them out of this little scrape.

“I wouldn’t expect a provincial mind like yours to understand,” he sniffed, “but I, Gaius Baltar Luthor, have seen the shape of things to come! I have seen the singular spark that dwells in the soul of every living being!”

Kara nodded encouragingly at Gaius, who was barely paying attention, so caught up in his proselytizing he was. The gun that had been at Karl’s ear was now waving roughly around the vicinity of his shoulder, and she tried to catch the shutterbug’s eye, jerking her chin to the side to indicate that he should try to move away.

“When we know what we are, then we can find the truth about others, see what they are. God only loves that which is perfect, and I have created the perfect race to walk in his footsteps and do his bidding!”

The kid was frozen, staring down at Luthor as he pontificated, much to Kara’s frustration. She edged closer to them. “Uh huh, perfection. Sure, sure. And this here weather machine,” she tilted her head towards the big steel machine in the corner, “this is gonna help you do that?”

“Weather machine?!” Luthor cried. “You foolish girl, that’s no simple weather machine! The atmospheric fireworks,” he brandished a hand at the thunder and lightning crashing through the sky, “are merely a cleverly designed disguise.”

“A disguise?” Finally, she caught Karl’s eye and telegraphed her message, and slowly, he edged a step away from Gaius. Quickly, Kara focused on Gaius again, not wanting to give away Karl’s position with a careless glance. She tried to concentrate on what he was yammering on about but the whole thing sounded ridiculous. He really was batshit crazy. “Why don’t you, uh, tell me more about this disguise?”

He was opening his mouth to launch into another ridiculous spiel no doubt, but just then Karl took another step sideways and his foot caught a small piece of metal sending it thunking away. The noise didn’t escape Luthor’s notice and his eyes narrowed suddenly. He turned abruptly and grabbed Karl’s arm, pulling him back to his side. “No! Enough talking! You’re just trying to distract me! No more Mr. Nice Gaius!” He yanked on Karl’s shoulder, pulling him down to his knees and aimed the gun at his temple this time. The sound of the hammer being cocked somehow cut through the pounding rain and mechanic hum to echo in Kara’s ears. She needed a distraction quick, something, anything!

“Look!” Karl cried suddenly, pointing. “Up in the sky!”

Gaius rolled his eyes. “Oh for cripes’ sake, it’s just a bird or a plane! Now stop trying to distract me and be a good hostage!”

“No!” Kara cried, her gaze trained on the red and blue blur barreling across the sky, darting between lightning bolts to land with a soft thump on the roof directly in front of her. She blinked in surprise, unable to believe her own eyes. “It’s Superman,” she breathed.

Kara peered curiously at the legend before her. He was facing away from her and towards Gaius, so she couldn’t see his face. But she felt no shame in letting her gaze slide from the broad shoulders and back, down past the cape whipping in the rainswept winds, to the sculpted muscles of his ass, thighs and calves, handily outlined by the tights and shiny underwear he was sporting. Weird fashion choice (and honestly, she’d expected him to be taller) but the body was super indeed.

“Miss Lane, are you alright?”

His head turned and the words were uttered over his shoulder in a deep, rich voice that made Kara feel warm all the way to her toes. She stared as lightning illuminated his profile, highlighting the strong square jawline and chiseled planes of his face.

_You know who I am?_ , Kara thought, but she said, “Fine. I was just about to put a stop to all this nonsense.”

“Yes, well, that’s good.” She thought she caught the corner of his mouth twisting in a smile. “Perhaps I may be of some assistance.” He nodded briefly then stepped forward towards Luthor.

“Kal-El, we meet again,” Gaius sneered.

“Luthor, unhand that man! This is not the answer. You can’t solve society’s problems with a gun.”

“Oh no, of course not. I have far grander plans for society.” He grinned maliciously. “But it never hurts to have a bit of insurance now, does it?”

Superman moved forward. “I said, let the man go, Gaius. This is the last warning. Next time, I won’t ask nicely.”

The more she heard the superhero speak, the more Kara realized there was something familiar about his voice. Yet, she knew she’d never met the hero before, in fact she hadn’t even believed he’d existed till just a moment ago.

Kara was puzzling over this when Gaius reached into the pocket of his velvet smoking jacket and pulled out a small remote control, snapping her attention back to him. He brandished the device in the air. “Stay back. It’s time for me to put the final phase of my plan in motion. And you can’t stop me! You will never beat me, Kal-El. You can’t compete with me. I always win!” The villain began cackling, maniacal crazed laughter spilling out, and then he pressed the button.

Suddenly a loud whine filled the air and Kara turned. The large steel machine in the corner had begun to rise, a clanking sound emanating from it as all around the boxy frame shiny appendages were unfolding. The machine was growing legs and arms before her very eyes!

“My crowning glory!” Luthor cried. “There are thousands of Centurions like this stationed throughout the galaxy. One press of this button and they shall arise, the sentient machine master race modeled after the one true God and we shall trium— _Oof!_ ”

While Luthor had been pontificating yet again, Superman had sprung into action, first knocking Karl out of the path of Gaius’s gun, then zipping toward the massive robot and lifting it into the air. He flew into the air, tossing it far away to dash against the side of a mountain and explode in a thousand pieces.

Seeing an opportunity, Kara ran to Gaius, her hand already clenching into a fist as she moved, and she laid him out with a clean right hook to the jaw. Luthor cried out in pain, then fell to a heap on the rooftop.

Kara grinned at Gaius on the ground, then hurried over to Karl’s side. “You alright, kid?”

At his wide-eyed nod, Kara tilted her head towards the staircase. “Then go, find the first phone you can and get the coppers on the horn, alright? Tell ‘em we got Gaius Luthor here and they should bring the paddywagon.” Karl nodded eagerly and turned to dash away, but Kara laid an arresting hand on his arm. “And kid, don’t mention our caped crusader, alright?”

“Yes, sir, m’am, Miss, Ka—”

“Just go!”

Kara turned back to keep an eye on Luthor, but the spot where he’d been curled on the ground was empty. Well, frak.

She heard the click of a hammer again, and knew before she even heard the voice.

“Not so fast, Miss Lane. Or shall I call you Kara too, since we’re getting to be such close, personal friends and all?”

Kara turned, to find Baltar leveling the pistol at her this time. “The only thing you’ll be calling, Luthor, is your lawyer from the nearest jail!”

Suddenly several things happened at once. Gaius pulled the trigger and time went into slow motion. Kara backed up, butting up against the edge of the turret, then Superman was suddenly there in front of her, shielding her from the bullets, which bounced off his chest and rained on the rooftop. Then he surged forward, tackling Gaius and sweeping the gun away from him. But Gaius’s hand shot up again, thumb pressing a button on the remote control and a loud boom filled the air.

Kara felt the earth shoot out from under her feet, a sharp pain in her head, and then everything went black...

****

She was flying.

Not many people knew this fact, but as a young girl, Kara Thrace Lane had dreamed of becoming a pilot. She had eagerly devoured the local libraries’ tales of Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, and Jean Batten and their wild adventures across the sky. For a brief period, she’d even worn a leather aviator cap, scarf and goggles everywhere she went just like her idols, until her mother finally put her foot down and insisted she dress like a “normal girl child, not a goddamn wartime flying ace.” As she grew older, Kara’s dreams of navigating the skies had faded, as childish dreams do. Her love of reading them eventually morphed into _writing_ her own stories of wild adventure.

But now, as consciousness returned to Kara’s groggy head, she realized several facts at once:

She was moving through the air at a great clip, and she wasn’t alone.

Someone was holding her against what felt like a warm block of marble. Carefully, she opened her eyes, the sunlight making her head pound and her vision go hazy.

Sunlight!

The rain had stopped. Quickly the events of the day rushed back to her, and Kara tried to focus. She remembered trudging up the mountainside with Karl and Kent. Remembered facing off against the insane ramblings of Gaius Luthor. And then… Superman came and saved them.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good. I was worried.”

The deep tones of his voice rumbled through his chest and into Kara’s side. His arms were like steel bands around her back and under her legs, and despite the fact that they were moving through the air at a rapid clip, Kara felt safe and comfortable.

Opening her eyes wider, she tried to focus on his face, but her eyes kept playing tricks on her. There were two of him, then four, the faces weaving and blurring into one slightly indistinct mass of chiseled features. She groaned. “Why are there so many of you?”

He chuckled. “You hit your head when you fell off the tower and got a nasty bump. We’ll get you to safe ground and your friends can take you to a doctor.”

Her friends. “Is Karl okay? What happened?”

He filled her in on how it had all gone down. Gaius had rigged an explosive device to create a diversion as he tried to escape via a secret passageway once Superman had foiled his plans, but Karl’s tipoff to the local police had paid off, and they caught the evil genius before he’d managed to make it very far.

“And the machines? He said there were thousands…” Kara mumbled, her head tilting to rest against his shoulder. She was really quite tired.

The hero frowned, his strong brow wrinkling. There was a lock of dark wavy hair bisecting the frown lines and Kara started to lift her hand to smooth it back when she was struck by a wallop of déjà vu…though she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why. Surely, she’d never met this Superman before…

“I shall not rest until they are all captured and immobilized, Miss Lane. You have my word.”

“Call me Kara,” she said.

“All right, Kara. You have my word.”

Unexpectedly, her stomach flipped at the sound of her name on his lips. Kara’s stomach flipped and she felt that buzz of déjà vu again, and wished desperately that she could remember whatever it was she was forgetting here.

“You really are real,” she said. “All this time, I thought Karl was imagining you, or just…making up a story to get himself some ink. Rigging up those photos with blue and red smears to get in good with the Boss.”

He looked down at her then, his handsome face snapping into sharp focus before her eyes for one moment. “People see what they want to see,” he said, his tone soft and intimate.

As her gaze finally locked on his—hazel eyes meeting steel blue ones—Kara’s breath caught.

“I guess they do.”

****

Not more than a minute later, they touched down at the car, where Karl was already waiting. “Gee whiz, is she gonna be alright?” He cried, a note of panic in his voice as Kara slumped a little against the car door. The gangly photographer jumped up to lace an arm around her back.

“She’ll be just fine, Karl,” Superman said to the gaping young man. “It’s likely a mild concussion. But it might be a good idea to have a doctor look her over.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Kara grumbled, the pounding in her head making her cranky now that she was gravity-bound again. “And the doctor visit can wait. We gotta get back to the newsroom. We should just have time to stop the presses on the evening edition. The Old Man’s gonna want this on the front page!”

“What about Kent, Miss Lane?” Karl asked, eyes wide. “He still hasn’t come back. You think we should just leave without him?”

Kara frowned but she was saved from answering, when Superman cut in. “Oh, I bet he’ll be along shortly. I believe I saw him working his way down the mountainside as we were coming in for a landing.” He smiled, and Kara could swear sunlight glinted off his teeth like he was starring in a toothpaste commercial. “Now I must be off to find those centurions and shut them down.”

He turned, but then paused and reached out for Kara’s hand. He brought it to his lips, mouth brushing her skin lightly. “It was a pleasure, Miss Lane. Perhaps we’ll meet again.”

“Oh, I just bet we will,” she smirked, rapidly reconsidering her stance on destiny.

Then he was off, cape flowing boldly behind him as he launched into the sky, arms outstretched as he flew up, up and away.

“Wow,” Karl said breathlessly, watching him go. His voice was a mix of awe and wonder. “Superman.”

Kara knew the feeling. She sighed and groaned as she got up, fishing the keys out of her pocket and tossing them to Karl. “You’re driving, kid.”

“We’re going? What about, Kent, though?”

As if on cue, their absentee coworker burst out of the bushes, his tie askew and glasses sitting slightly cockeyed on his face. “Here I am,” he cried. “I got a bit…held up. Did I miss all the excitement?”

Kara just looked at the mild-mannered reporter, who was suddenly very busy straightening his glasses and tightening his tie. But his eyes were bright and there was a flush of color in his cheeks. One thick curl of hair looped down over his forehead.

“ ’Bout time you showed up again, Kent. We’ve gotta get back to the _Galactica_. The kid here’ll fill you in on all the gory details. And if either one of you wakes me up before we’re back in Caprica City, well, it won’t be pretty.”

Kara climbed into the front seat, the grin she’d been holding back escaping as she settled herself in and closed her eyes.

When she dreamed, she dreamed of flying.

****

“Well done, Lane!” Their boss nodded to Karl. “Olsen!”

Bill was stitting at his desk, clutching the evening edition of the paper, emblazoned with the headline _“Madman Foiled! Superhero Saves the Day!”_ Karl and Lee stood flanking Kara in a row before the desk.

“We were in real trouble until Superman showed up, Sir!” Karl helpfully added.

“Yes, well,” Bill puffed on a cigar and offered the box of Tauron’s finest around to his staffers. Kara took one and slid it in her pocket to celebrate later. “It’s just a crying shame that none of them pictures of him you took came out, boy.”

Eyes wide with innocence, Kara chimed in, “Yeah. Too bad the film got exposed like that.” She cleared her throat. “But you should know, Boss, the real hero was Kent here.” Lee’s head lifted, eyes wide with surprise and maybe a hint of gratitude as he looked at Kara. “He’s the one who got the lead on Gaius’s fortress. Without that, we never could have found him, never mind stopped him.”

Lee smiled at Kara, warm and open, and it lit up the mild-mannered cub reporter’s face.

“Is that right?” Bill harrumphed, raising an eyebrow at the rookie reporter. Lee had earned his first real front page byline with the story…well a co-byline with Kara anyway. “Good job, Kent! Maybe we’ll make a real reporter out of you yet. ”

He beamed, slightly stammering. “Y-yes. Yes, sir.”

Bill waved a hand. “Okay, out! All three of you! I have some important work to do,” he said, as he reached into his top desk drawer. Bill didn’t know she knew about it, but Kara had done some snooping one day and discovered the nutcracker and tin of walnuts he had stashed away in that drawer. “And close the door behind you!”

They filed out of the office, Karl in the lead, and when he got a few steps ahead, Kara turned and grabbed Lee’s arm, frog-marching him around the corner to a nearby supply closet.

“M-miss Lane? Kara? What’s- What’s going on?”

Kara grabbed a mop leaning nearby and jammed the handle under the door latch, then turned to Lee. She advanced and he backed up, until his broad frame hit the shelves of notepads and pencils on the far wall. Kara stepped forward, her face just inches from his.

“I think I deserve an explanation, don’t you?”

He blinked, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “A-about?”

She narrowed her eyes and planted her hands on his chest. “You can’t just sweep a girl off her feet and disappear, you know.”

Lee froze like a deer in headlines. “Ah, I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What I’m talking about is _you_. Saving my life down there on Kobol.”

His mouth fell open. “You, uh, you hit your head pretty hard on the ledge, Kara. You must be confused. It was Superman who saved the day.”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “How’d you know about my head?”

Lee’s eyes widened and he paused just a beat too long with his answer. “Uh, K-Karl must have said…”

Kara grinned triumphantly. “I didn’t tell Karl what I hit my head on. You would only know that if you’d been there… _Superman_.”

He froze again, then his shoulders slumped. “How did you figure it out?”

She hooted with laughter. “C’mon, Lee! You think a pair of cheap glasses are gonna fool me?” She reached out and plucked them off his face, looking through them for a moment then waving them in the air. “Heck, these aren’t even prescription!”

“No one’s ever recognized me before,” he mumbled, frowning.

“Yeah, well you can miss a lot when you’re not paying attention.” The words came out more serious than she’d intended, and the earnest, almost eager look on his face was almost too much. This was getting awfully serious awfully quickly. Kara coughed and tried to lighten the mood. “And hey, no one else is a two-time Viper Award-winning journalist, now are they?” She grinned. “Of course, I recognized you! Took me a little bit, what with the concussion and all, but it was pretty darn obvious, once I got a good look in.”

He frowned some more, steel-blue eyes turning wary. “You didn’t tell the boss.” It was a revelation, not a question.

Kara shrugged.

“But this—” he shook his head, not comprehending, “this could be the biggest scoop of your life, Kara. Superman revealed!”

She frowned. “And it could ruin yours. Newshounds like me chasing you all the time. Not to mention what the Feds in Washington would do to you. A guy would never get a moment’s peace.” Kara shook her head, her face earnest, as she slid his glasses back on to his face. “Some things are more important than headlines.”

The worry lines on his brow smoothed out and he smiled at her, the dazzling grin warming her from head to toe like it was the sun itself shining from his face. “Thank you, Kara.”

Their eyes met and held and Kara took a deep breath and leaned closer, sliding her hands up to curve over his shoulders. Lee’s eyebrows raised again, and she said quietly, “Besides, maybe I like the idea of keeping you— _the real you_ —all to myself.”

His grin widened with surprise, and he reached for her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Kara’s stomach somersaulted and she leaned closer, pushing his glasses up to perch on his forehead and pressing her lips softly, slowly to his. Lee’s hands came up to cradle her face, as he deepened the kiss, hunger stealing through her as his mouth slanted over hers, his tongue tangling with her own. So this was what it was like to be kissed by a superhero. _I could do this all day_ , Kara thought.

But duty called. They had leads to follow up on. Calls to make. Stories to write. Somehow, she managed to tear her lips away from his. Lee blinked and Kara smirked. “And now we’ve gotta get back to work, flyboy. Before someone comes looking for some number two pencils and finds us testing the superstrength of this here shelving unit.”

He promptly blushed, which made Kara laugh again. She wondered exactly where Lee Adama Kent ended and Superman began. She certainly planned to have some fun finding out. But that had to wait till they were off the clock. They made plans for dinner at her apartment as soon as the workday was done.

Kara reached up to straighten his glasses, and this time, when her fingers itched to smooth that wavy forelock, she indulged them, running her fingers through his hair briefly, before turning and unjamming the door latch. As they sauntered back out into the newsroom, yet another brilliant idea flashed through the mind of Kara T. Lane, intrepid girl reporter.

“About later, Kent?” She leaned in and murmured into his ear. “Bring the cape and tights.”


End file.
